Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Phoenix Business Journal ACE Awards Feature Four Tucson Companies
September 19th, 2014 | 
Author: On September 18 the Phoenix Business Journal announced the 2014 winners of its ACE Awards (AZ Corporate Excellence). This year Vistage International joined the list of companies sponsoring the ACE awards. In all the 50 winners included 12 Vistage International member companies including six that are either headquartered in or have branches in Southern Arizona. The six include:
- Pima Medical Institute
- Truly Nolen
- Buffalo Exchange
- Beach Fleischman
- Sunland Asphalt (branch)
- Pioneer Title (Sierra Vista)
Congratulations to all the winners.
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SEO for CEO’s Made Simple
As the CEO you’re probably not directly responsible for optimizing your company website for search engines. You may want to know just enough to know if the people who are responsible are doing a good job of it. One way is of course to search yourself on the words you think your prospective clients might be using to look for companies like yours. For The Leader’s Edge we want to capture searchers who are looking for Business Coaching or Executive Coaching.
Another method is to take a look at your landing page and check for THBLI. Check for what? If I want to capture prospective clients, they would be searching for items related to Business Coaching.
T–Does your webpage have a TITLE that would be relevant to searchers? Our Title is Business Coaching.
H–Does your webpage have a HEADLINE that would be relevant to searchers?
B–Does your webpage have a BLOG with entries that would be relevant to searchers?
L–Does your webpage have LINKS that would be relevant to searchers?
I–Does your webpage have IMAGES with names relevant to searchers?
YOU VENDOR ME VICTIM
From a recent newsletter by my friend and fellow chair Alan Hauge.
“You Vendor, Me Victim”: or How Target’s friends did it in.
The hacking of 40 Million Target Shoppers over the holidays is a still unfolding travesty and other retailers like Neiman Marcus and others have likewise been affected. It’s bad enough when hackers target your system directly, but it now appears that Target was compromised by the lack of security at its VENDORS; the very people with the largest stake in Target’s success were the unwitting pathway for the criminals who stole so much personal data!
To Target’s dismay, it was announced on Friday that the vendor in question was not a giant merchandise supplier, but a small 125 person mechanical contracting firm in Pittsburgh, PA that had done some work for several Target’s stores. Hackers targeted the vendor’s system and its connection to Target’s vendor management system through which they found the access they were looking for..
If you’re a C-Level decision maker, this buck will find its way to your desk as the CEO of Target has learned to his sorrow; so take a few minutes for an executive summary by Vistage Speaker Mike Foster who has advised hundreds of Vistage CEOs across the US on how to understand and manage this increasingly risky aspect of their businesses.. In a recent blog post, he gives an overview of what happened plus the questions you should be asking your IT Staff before you get a very different set of questions from irate customers and other stakeholders because you failed to protect them. Mike provides two videos (one short, one long) in that blog entry that provide a list of questions to ask your team to determine whether you’re being hurt (unintentionally) by those who are supposed to love you.
Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Vistage
Explore an two-decade long journey with Tim McCarthy as he looks back on lessons learned in his Vistage membership in his new book, “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Vistage.”
From his web page.
“When I started with Vistage in 1995, my company had annual revenues of $2 million, 14 employees, was named to the INC. 500, and lost money. That year, my wife and I had been together 20 years and our children were 11, 15, and 16. I paid myself $48,000 in what was my seventh year in business. Since then, my first business was sold into private equity for $45 million. I’ve started another three businesses and a foundation, and between them we manage about $60 million in assets. Our three children are all married and all are running their own businesses … Alice and I have now made it 38 years together and we have two grandchildren. Most importantly, I’m happier than I ever dreamed I could be. I have health, love of family, and an incredible fortune. And daily, I live my dream of serving those who serve the poor, the focus of our foundation, The Business of Good.”
Learn more about Tim’s journey at http://bit.ly/1ld9tOc
Hire the Best, Fire the Rest and Stay Out of Court
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Experience Vistage on June 11 at Hacienda del Sol
Every month Tucson Vistage members give up a day at the office to spend that day with 15 of their peers? Easy? No. Invaluable? Yes. Watch to find out why. Vistage Value
On June 11 join Tucson’s business leaders for a half day version of a Vistage CEO meeting. Enjoy a popular Vistage speaker leading you through an accelerated Strategic Planning exercise. Learn what it is like to explore a tough question or issue you are facing with the help of a room of your peers. Schedule an appointment to see if you qualify for membership in Tucson’s newest CEO Peer Advisory Group. That group is already 25 percent subscribed, including the President of one of Tucson’s largest aerospace companies.
Come as a guest. Full information here.
Optimism Rebounds in Q1 2013 Vistage CEO Confidence Index
CEOs reported an improved economy and brighter prospects for their own firms despite recent cutbacks in federal spending, in the Q1 2013 Vistage CEO Confidence Index. The Confidence Index was 96.6 in the 1st quarter 2013 survey, up from 87.0 in the prior quarter and the highest level since last year’s 105.1. The underlying strength in the economy has begun to shift the attention of CEOs from uncertainty about federal policies to the more traditional concerns of small firms centered on revenue growth, controlling costs, and staffing.
Below are some key highlights from the Q1 2013 Vistage CEO Confidence Index (all members surveyed):
- 49% of CEOs think that economic conditions have improved compared with a year ago, up from 35% in Q4 2012.
- 68% of CEOs anticipate their firm’s sales revenues will increase in the next 12 months.
- Just 11% of CEOs found it easy to find people with the right skills to drive their business growth, while 75% found it difficult to find qualified talent.
- 16% of CEOs believe the sequester will adversely impact their business.
- 82% of CEOs expect U.S. fiscal uncertainty will continue throughout the year.
Can You Be a Control Freak AND Delegate Successfully?
Yes, according to Matthew Sawyers writing for Inc. According to Sawyers:
The first premise you must recognize is that everything can be delegated. If you think you are the only person who can perform a specific task your issue is more with you and less with those around you. Often we fall into a habit of thinking that we are the only ones that can do something right. This is particularly the case with persons with obsessive personalities (aka control freaks). In the end, however, there is almost nothing that cannot be delegated assuming you have hired competent personnel.
Read the full article at http://bit.ly/VaJeIS
One Out of Every Two Managers is Terrible at Accountability
One out of every two managers is terrible at accountability according to studies cited by the Harvard Business Review. That’s one reason that CEO’s, business owners and senior executive join Vistage International.
HBR explores “Free Ridership” wherein team members who don’t carry their weight and drag on the performance of others may be rewarded anyway. In fact, they may often get ahead of hard working contributors and enjoy the benefits of group membership without making the personal sacrifice. There is a solution–Evaluate to Win, pioneered by Able Aerospace in Phoenix working with GE’s Jack Welch. It is a new, affordable performance management tool that can be deployed by companies of any size. More at Evaluate to Win Website.
The HBR article goes on to say…
Thus, it is no surprise that groups in which free-riders are punished for their loafing outperform groups in which they are not. But the interesting finding in all of this is that the person who does the punishing actually pays a personal price in terms of lost social support. In a nutshell, group performance requires that someone plays the role of sheriff, but it is a thankless job. It is another one of those sticky cases where what is good for the group can be bad for the individual. You know, the kind of stuff that in another era was considered commendable because it served a greater good than self-interest.
In this light, it is easy to see why so many people in positions of authority are soft on accountability. In an age of career management and “psychopolitics,” where personal interest reigns supreme, who wants to risk being the bad guy? The unfortunate consequence, however, is that no matter what short-term costs an upwardly ambitious manager avoids by not playing the sheriff, they are overshadowed in the long run by the creation of a culture of mediocrity and lackluster organizational performance. Add this up over time and across departments and business units and the aggregate costs of neglecting accountability can be staggering for everyone.
Consider Emotional Intelligence Before Making That Next Hire
According to Beth Miller writing in the Executive Street Blog , … there is more than one type of intelligence, and one being considered more and more is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, or EQ, encompasses more than a person’s feelings, however; it determines how they relate to others, their management style, their ability to manage their emotions, and their ability to manage their own job performance.
By assessing a job candidate’s emotional intelligence, you need not rely solely on their itemized past job duties—you also have the option of predicting how they will behave in the workplace if you hire them. Read the entire Executive Street Blog Entry at http://bit.ly/X3GRgy
Emotional intelligence is also the focus of our next meeting, and enrollment is open for Tucson Vistage Group 9126. If you own or lead a small business, are a “C-Level” executive in a larger company, or have a senior executive that you would like to develop for a leadership position we may have a seat at the table.
Join us in November for an exploration into our own emotional intelligence, with renowned Vistage speaker Heather Anderson. Heather’s session includes a personalized emotional quotient assessment for each participant.
More importantly learn why Vistage members routinely outperform their competition, and why our average member made it through the recession with an INCREASE in sales. Send me a message and let’s grab coffee to see if you qualify.